Hare, who was
African-American, was born in
Cherry Valley, Arkansas. He recorded at the
Sun Studio in
Memphis, Tennessee, serving as a sideman for
Howlin' Wolf,
James Cotton,
Muddy Waters,
Bobby Bland and other artists. Hare was one of the first guitarists to purposely use the effects of
distortion in his playing. He played the electric guitar solo on "
Love My Baby" (1953), which later inspired the
rockabilly style. One of their biggest hits was "
Next Time You See Me", which in 1957 reached number 5 on the
Billboard R&B chart and number 74 on the
Billboard Hot 100 pop chart. His
guitar solo on James Cotton's
electric blues record "Cotton Crop Blues" (1954) was the first recorded use of heavily distorted
power chords, later an element of
heavy metal music. According to
Robert Palmer, "Rarely has a grittier, nastier, more ferocious electric guitar sound been captured on record, before or since, and Hare's repeated use of a rapid series of two downward-modulating power chords, the second of which is allowed to hang menacingly in the air, is a kind of hook or structural glue. [...] The first heavy metal record? I'd say yes, with tongue only slightly in cheek." At the time of his arrest, he gave police his occupation as "window washer". He had been fired from the Muddy Waters before moving to Minnesota (replaced in the band by the guitarist
James "Pee Wee" Madison). Hare pleaded guilty to murder and spent the last 16 years of his life in prison, where he formed a band named Sounds Incarcerated. He developed lung cancer in prison and died in 1980 in Saint Paul, Minnesota. ==References==